Pineapple Rice

Hello lovely people! ‘Another rice dish’ you say, but this one too has a story. There are those times when you just happen to have random ingredients around. This was the case with this pineapple rice. And as I collected all of them…you know the pineapple, soy pieces, the carrots, the cashews, I realized, hey a pineapple rice dish can happen right now. Seriously! And it happened! This tends to happen –more than—a lot in my cooking process. Cooking from scratch can be fulfilling because you create a dish out of random things and at the same time it can be frustrating because you are sure the same dish won’t happen again(ha! story of my life!). Since I was very alert while making this, I noted everything down. So here we go. First of all, before we go any further, this is purely from scratch. This means that you can add or subtract anything. That’s the joy of cooking. Right?…No?

What you will need:

3C Uncooked rice

1 kg diced pineapple (roughly one whole medium pineapple)

1C Ground (Read: crushed) soy pieces

1C Julienned Green beans

1C Chopped tomatoes

1C Diced carrots

1C Chopped onions

1C Chopped spring onions

½C Crushed Cashew nuts

3 cloves of Garlic

½ Tsp. Rosemary flakes

3tbsp cooking oil

1 Tbsp. Sugar (optional)

Salt

Method

Precook the rice the day before and keep (preferably in a refrigerator). In a large pan, add the oil and after 10 seconds add the garlic. Wait for it to slightly become brown and then add the onions, salt and half of the spring onions while stirring briskly. Make sure the fire is neither too low nor too high. Add the tomatoes. Note: If you want the carrots and green beans to have a crunchy effect add them after adding the rice but if not add then right after the tomatoes so they can cook longer. Add the pineapple and soy pieces and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and keep mixing till everything is thoroughly mixed. While mixing add the rosemary flakes and sprinkle the sugar. Continue stirring. Remove from fire and lastly sprinkle in the cashew nuts and the other half of the spring onions while stirring. Let cool and serve. Note: Serves a lot!

Hard work eh? Well, I call it a labor of love. A secret to make the work easier is by loosening the rice (with either your hands or a fork) before you add it into the fried mixture that way it will not be lumpy and it will still remain in flakes. Happy cooking y’all. Let me know how it turns out in the comments below.